Second Time In...Paris

Paris is one of those places you can visit a dozen times and still stumble upon something new. The first trip will inevitably be all about the classics (Eiffel Tower, Mona Lisa, escargots that you always wanted to order but chickened out from) and rightly so – Paris is the most iconic city on Earth with good reason.

But once those boxes are ticked, the city opens up in more intriguing ways.

During your second time in Paris, the city reveals its hidden layers: underground tunnels, whole districts painted head-to-toe in street art, picnic-perfect parks that locals keep to themselves, and vantage points that allow you to snap that perfect photo without needing the ‘delete everyone’ software on your Phone.   Plus, you definitely want to return to Notre Dame, just to see what a building can look like after a half-millennium of grime is scraped away.

With decent walking shoes, a couple of day passes for the Metro and a morning Espresso (you’ll need it – this itinerary packs a lot in) you can see queues are shorter, the meals less rushed, and the views more than worth the detour.

You’ve already:  Been up the Eiffel Tower, taken a boat ride down the Seine, traipsed through the Louvre and Orsay museums (the latter is so much better!), walked down the Champs-Elysees, headed out to Versailles, poked your nose into (pre-fire) Notre Dame

At A Glance

Public Transport

Buy your tickets via the Bonjour RATP app (you can store the pass on your phone).  Standard day pass costs €12 and are valid across metros (numbered lines), RER suburban trains (lettered lines), buses and trams.

I’ve never driven in Paris and the sight of cars circling the Arc de Triomphe yielding to vehicles entering the roundabout has convinced me never to try!

Where To Stay

Paris’ extensive public transport network means nowhere within the city is truly out of reach.  Assuming you’ll be out and about most of the day – and night – these are all good mid-range options with comfortable beds and close to public transport.

• Hotel Puy De Dome (18^th Arr.) – Excellent budget option within walking distance of Montmartre and close to Metro.  Clean, quiet, comfortable rooms.  From £72/€85/$95 per night.

• Hotel Aida Marais (10^th Arr.) – Central location close to the Canal St Martin and two Metro lines.  Small but impeccable rooms.  From £105/€125/$140 per night.

• Hotel Chouette (15^th Arr.) – Funky boutique hotel (‘The Owl’) with multiple good restaurants within a 5-minute walk.  Excellent air-conditioning (not always the norm in Paris).  From £120/€145/$155 per night

What To Do

• Montmartre Highlights Walking Tour – As described in Day One below, this tour gives deliciously gosspity insight into the artists that called Montmartre home and includes the stellar views most tourists miss

• Montparnasse Experience – Guided Tour around the district of Paris that was home to Josephine Baker and the Guggenheims, includes entry to Montparnasse Tower so you won’t miss any views from the top

• Left Bank Food & Wine Tour – Aligning with the evening of Day 2 below, curated guide to the best places to dine and sip in the Latin Quarter while swerving the tourist traps.

  
  

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Day 1

Catacombs of Paris

• Nearest station: Denfert-Rochereau (Lines 4, 6, RER B)

• Price: €31 per person

• Book: Here – Book a timed slot 7 days in advance (plan ahead, they always sell out)

Because nothing says “romantic weekend in Paris” like six million skeletons arranged in neat rows beneath the city.

The Catacombs aren’t just macabre décor, they’re a reminder that Paris was running out of space long before Airbnbs did.   A winding descent leads into cool tunnels lined with bones stacked like firewood, complete with morbidly poetic inscriptions (‘Welcome to the Empire of the Dead’ etc.)

It’s eerie but oddly beautiful, and the history is as fascinating as it is unsettling – markers indicate tumultuous events in French history that led to an increase of bones being deposited here.

Book a timed ticket in advance.  The first slot is 9.45am, well worth grabbing this first timeslot to ): entry lines can stretch longer than some metro rides. After about an hour underground, emerging into daylight feels like being reborn—slightly pale, but smugly more cultured.

Street Art 13

• Getting There from last destination:  Line 6 – from Denfert-Rochereau to Nationale

• Time from last destination: approx. 15 minutes

Moving quickly from skulls to spray paint: the 13th arrondissement has become Paris’s surprise largest canvas.

Instead of the far more famous galleries, you’ll find towering murals splashed across whole apartment blocks. There’s a ten-storey ballerina pirouetting over traffic and vivid dreamscapes that liven up even the greyest day. How they painted it is worth a ponder!

This open-air museum is free, always evolving, and best explored on foot.

Wander between Bibliothèque François Mitterrand and Boulevard Vincent Auriol, pausing for a quick coffee in the student-filled cafés.

Lunch in Parc des Buttes-Chaumont & Belleville

• Getting There from last destination: Line 5 – from Campo-Formio to Laumiere

• Time from last destination: approx. 30 minutes

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is Paris at play: steep lawns, a suspension bridge, and a faux Roman temple perched above a man-made lake.

Beforehand, detour via Boulangerie Utopie in Oberkampf and pick up baked goods for a lunchtime picnic.  Spread across the grass or benches, soak up the (fingers crossed!) sunshine, and watch locals jog off their lunchtime pastries.  

Afterwards, walk into neighbouring Belleville (approx. 10 minute walk). It’s a mix of multicultural markets, narrow lanes, and – more - edgy street art, with rooftop gardens peeking out from the chaos. It might still be Parisian but it has a grit and flavour not often found in this city.

Pigalle & Montmartre Walking Tour

• Getting There from last destination: Line 2 – from Belleville to Pigalle

• Time from last destination: approx. 25 minutes

• Price: c. £32/€38/$42

• Book: Here

Montmartre is famous for Sacré-Cœur and resident artists, but second-time visitors get better rewards by slipping into its quieter corners.  A walking tour is the ideal way to explore the stories and locations that have long been a draw to this most inviting corner of Paris.  The history is balanced with more than a dollop of salacious gossip and legend.  My favourite story remains Montmartre (literally ‘the mountain of the martryr’) got its name from St Denis, who was executed by the Romans at the foot of the hill and promptly picked up his severed head and walked the 6km north to the spot where his basilica was built. Quite the party trick.

Rue de l’Abreuvoir (pictured), with its pink cafés and ivy-clad houses, looks more like a postcard than the actual postcards yet is missed by most tourists. Parc Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, tucked behind the basilica, is a peaceful green terrace with sweeping views of Paris, surprisingly (and mercifully) free of buskers with accordions.  A guided amble through cobbled lanes where Picasso, who learnt to ‘draw like a child’ – horrifying his flatmates,  and Van Gogh (who famously only sold one painting in his lifetime) took up residence, and you’ll discover that Montmartre is best enjoyed at walking pace.   

Dinner and a Trip Up Montparnasse Tower

• Getting There from last destination: Line 12 - from Abbesses to Montparnasse–Bienvenüe)

• Time from last destination: approx. 30 minutes

Stating the obvious but Paris does brasseries like London does pubs, and Montparnasse’s La Coupole is a classic. This Art Deco palace has been serving oysters, steak-frites, and gossip since the 1920s. The mirrored walls, soaring columns, and lively atmosphere feel timeless, while the waiters glide about with a precision that only comes from decades of service.   

The area is a surprising hotbed of Parisian history with luminaries from Josephine Baker to Pablo Picasso calling it home – find out more on this tour, which includes a visit up the tower.

Once you’re done, head over to the famously ugly Montparnasse Tower.  The French may state “Il

faut souffrir pour être belle” but thankfully, the suffering in question is only on the outside here. From the 56th floor observation deck, the view is sublime: Paris stretched out like a patchwork of slate rooftops, with the Eiffel Tower – obviously - front and centre. Visit at sunset when the city glows gold, then wait for the lights to flicker on.  You won’t have it to yourself – reminder, this is Paris, the most visited city in the world – but it’s a distinct perspective and a less touristed one.

Night Stroll Along the Seine With Views from Pont de Grenelle & Av. de Camoens

• Getting There from last destination: Line 6: Montparnasse - Bienvenüe to Bir-Hakeim

• Time: approx. 20 minutes

Can’t resist an Eiffel Tower shot, even after multiple trips to Paris?

No, me neither.   This time however, I looked up some alternative viewpoints.

Firstly, head to Pont de Grenelle, which hides one of Paris’s best-kept secret, which hides in plain sight: a 22-metre replica of the Statue of Liberty standing proudly mid-river, gifted by the U.S. to France in 1889, the centenary of the French revolution.

At night, she looks on as the Eiffel Tower performs its hourly sparkle across the Seine, it’s quite the cinematic spectacle.

Stroll along the Seine for about 25 minutes, head up the stairs on Rue Beethoven and you’ll reach Avenue de Camoens, a quiet cobbled street with postcard-worthy views of the tower framed between apartment blocks.  

It’s the storybook view of Paris you’ve always dreamt existed with the perfect framing between street lights and 19th century staircases.

Just be respectful of the fact it’s a living street of the city so keep noise to a minimum (take note wannabe influencers thinking is is appropriate location for a full-on photoshoot…)

Day 2

Notre-Dame (post-fire)

• Location: Slap bang in the middle of Paris (Line 4 to Cité or RER Line B to St Michel-Notre Dame)

• Price: Free

• Book: Here

You’ve already been, but assuming this was the pre-2019 fire, Notre-Dame demands a repeat visit.  Free tickets can be booked online 48 hours beforehand – walk ups still available but you’ll be taking a gamble on how many others have the same idea as you!  Come first thing (it opens at 7.50am on weekdays and 8.15am at the weekend) and avoid the worst of the crowds.

The cathedral remains the spiritual heart of Paris and the clean up has left it recognisable but with a distinct facelift. From the square in front, you can admire the flying buttresses and intricate stonework. 

Pause under the doorway and look at the right hand side of the door – yep, that’s a blindfolded woman taking a shit (representing pestilence) and a mini-Satan buggering a pope with a pitchfork, demonstrating God’s judgment happens to everyone, regardless of status. That told you!

Inside, the marble has had a scrub.  The removal of 700 years’ worth of grime creates a surprisingly light space with the colour of the stained glass more vivid than ever.  Afterwards, wander the Seine’s bookstalls (or Shakespeare and Company, the best English-language bookstore in Paris) where leather-bound volumes rub spines with dog-eared Tintin comics.  Grab a takeaway coffee to drink in the Parc Rene-Viviani, which has a sensational view of the cathedral that gets missed by everyone…except you…

Saint-Chapelle

• Getting There from last destination: Walk, it’s just around the corner

• Time from last destination : Approx. 10 minutes

• Price: €19 per person

• Book: Here

Tucked inside the Palais de la Cité, Sainte-Chapelle is a jewel box of stained glass and one of the city’s most breathtaking sights. Step inside and 15 soaring windows flood the chapel with light, a kaleidoscope of blues, reds, and golds that reflect at all angles.   It’s still one of my favourite places in Paris - and truthfully, one of my favourite churches in Europe, that I never get tired of.   

Book tickets in advance here, it opens at 9am.

Built in the 13th century to house supposed relics of Christ’s Passion, it feels more like stepping into heaven than a church.  It’s best to visit on a sunny morning for the full light-show effect - the colours blaze across the floor and walls, and for a moment, you forget the noise of Paris outside.

 

Lunch and Lazy Afternoon in Auvers-sur-Oise

• Getting There from last destination: RER Lines B and H (RER B to Gare du Nord → RER H to Pontoise, then change for the branch line – also RER H – to Auvers-sur-Oise)

• Time From last destination: Approx. 75 minutes

Auvers-sur-Oise is a small town on the outskirts of Paris with an outsized cultural footprint. You can get here on your day card without the need to pay anything extra.

In 1890, Vincent van Gogh arrived here for his final summer, painting 70 canvases in 70 days before his untimely death. The landscapes remain: the wheatfields, the twisting lanes, the church immortalised in thick blue brushstrokes.

A walk through town is like stepping into one of his paintings, it’s that surreal.  A pleasant and moving stroll takes you out to the graveyard, where he and his brother Theo are buried in an inconspicuous corner.

 For lunch, book a table at Auberge Ravoux, the modest inn where Van Gogh boarded (and painted furiously between meals). The simple French dishes - duck, rabbit, tarte Tatin - honour his era without feeling like museum pieces.

Evening on Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève

• Getting There from last destination: RER Line H and B (return RER Line H train to Gare du Nord → RER Line B to Sant-Michel-Notre Dame)

• Time: approx.. 70 minutes return

Retrace your steps back to the centre of Paris and head for Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the Latin Quarter.

Cobbled, atmospheric, and lined with low-lit wine bars, it’s where the student quarter matures gracefully into an adult evening. Tuck into hearty French fare at Le Coupe-Chou, a 17th-century house-turned-restaurant complete with fireplaces, beams, and the sort of ambience that makes you linger longer than planned. 

Drinks at the underground Pomme D’Eve (a 12^th century wine cellar in a previous life) are an excellent way to start a mini-bar crawl up Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Genevieve towards the Pantheon. Bonus points if you stumble upon a Chinese wedding photoshoot on your way up.

There aren’t too many bad calls you can make on this street and its neighbouring lanes.  Just keep an ear out for French being the dominant language and seat yourself accordingly.  Note that the seats at every bar only face outwards – this isn’t by accident.  Parisians know they’re being watched and they strut accordingly. 

If by this point of the itinerary you're tired and need some respite, this 2hr food tour of the Latin Quarter will give you a superb range of cuisine and wine to ensure you leave for the night feeling full and smug at avoiding tourist trap places that proliferate this neighbourhood.

Second Time In Paris – The Reflection

Second time in Paris is when the city really begins to make sense. You’re no longer rushing to tick off postcard-scenes, you’re discovering skeletons underground, murals ten stories tall and parks that double as picnic spots.   

Best of all, Paris by night still delivers its old magic: the irresistible views, quiet cobbled streets, and wine bars that don’t look like they’ve changed much since La Belle Epoque…apart from the prices.

Go once and you’ll start to understand Paris. Go twice, and you’ll never want to stop returning.